So, this is a thing that is happening.

After going through the dusty old documents of my writing folder, I found this little gem. I'd forgotten all about it, but I gave it a quick read over and remembered how much I loved it. So I fixed it up and started writing more in it and, after building up about six chapters, decided to post it here.

It's probably worth mentioning that this story will feature characters that were confirmed dead because I wanted the whole cast. Their revival won't be explained, but if you want to think up your own theory then feel free. ^^

Chapter 1

He'd been dreaming again. Even though the game was over, he still slept in the dream bubbles just like all the other former players. This time, he'd seen the end of their journey. Karkat woke up abruptly, staring at the ceiling of his small hive, clutching the blanket beneath him. He always knew how that dream, memory, would end, but he still woke up terrified. Terrified that they hadn't actually won, that he'd dreamed all that.

It wasn't a bad dream, just a memory, really. He didn't really have bad dreams, since all he was doing was visiting dream bubbles. Even if he didn't use the slime beds from before. Three human years on a meteor without them had gotten him used to sleeping on the things humans called beds. Turns out that alchemetizing slime was ridiculously expensive, too. The quirks of Paradox Space would never make sense to him.

To be honest, for a while the waking world had been more of a nightmare, anyways. They had found a planet to call their own, or rather, terraformed one. They'd done so within the human's very solar system, in fact. It'd taken years, but now it seemed a lot like Alternia's warm temperatures and wet climates. The sun, however, wasn't as hot, so trolls could go outside without going immediately blind, though. Going out in midday still had its issues, however.

Well, regardless, they'd changed the name of that planet to Alternia because the old one was a shitty ass name, but everyone was too fucking stupid to come up with something other than Alternia. They'd all been there for sweeps, now. Re-population had been a success on their end, with the help of ectobiology, just like with the humans.

Despite his mutant blood, he himself had matured into an adult troll and continued into that adulthood with few signs of ageing any quicker than anyone else. Going into his mid-thirties (in human years that is) and still looking young. He supposed he could be thankful for that. That is, if his life wasn't so fucking terrible.

He'd lived alone after self exiling himself. It hadn't been a human year since Alternia's re-population had begun. At first, isolating himself from everyone else had been done out of frustration after the hemospectrum had been put back in place. Okay, maybe he could have handled that, but whoever was in charge had also decided that his blood was to be no part of it.

As the sweeps passed, though, frustration gave way to pride. He couldn't bring himself to go crawling back to them all, so here he stayed.

He had also cut off all contact with anyone, only bringing along something that humans called a 'phone' just in case of emergencies. He'd locked that away, though. The temptation to message someone, anyone, had been too strong. His existence was fairly meaningless, boring, and very lonely. Or at least during the first sweep or so. It seemed that, boring though his life was, it was not without its own eventfulness. And one day a particular event ended up changing a lot of things.

He wasn't all alone, now. Fate had it that his new home was near one of the many exits, or perhaps entrances, to the Mother Grub's brooding caverns. He hadn't known until he started noticing little trolls crawling out and lusi coming to take care of them. Sometimes, out of boredom, he'd sit in the window of his shitty tree house home and watch.

And then one day, he'd seen her. She'd smacked her head on something and was out like a light, though still a good ways from his home. He'd found her on his way out to a nearby market, since he still needed to buy supplies. She was very young, though, maybe a couple of sweeps ahead of her metamorphosis. And it seemed that she was abandoned by her lusus, assuming she even had one in the first place.

So he'd investigated. He'd actually contacted Kanaya a couple of times before about stray wigglers, those were the only times he'd touched the phone, so he figured that this would be another one of those cases. Except it definitely was not one of those cases. Not when he saw the cherry red blood leaking out of the wound on her head and onto his hand when he made to pick her up.

He had never truly felt like he had good company. Sure, there had been Jack and the humans with their same coloured blood, but they weren't trolls. All of his friends could take comfort in having others out there with the same blood colour as him. Kankri didn't fucking count because he was just plain embarrassed to be related to him and he was supposed to be deader than dead anyways.

Yet here he was, now, staring down at a mutant just like him. Eyes fixated on that cherry red blood. He couldn't call Kanaya this time.

But really, what was he thinking taking her home with him? Trolls didn't take care of their children, that was something reserved for the lusus. He asked himself this over and over again as he carried the unconscious girl back. He'd laid her on the bed, wrapped her head and tucked her into the blankets, then collapsed into his desk chair with a groan.

He remembered it almost as if it had happened yesterday, although many sweeps had passed since that fateful day.

"What am I, a fucking idiot?" he muttered. "Yeah, sounds about fucking right..."

Okay, so what did he do now? He couldn't raise the girl himself. He slammed his head onto the desk. Dammit, he was so stupid! He should just call up Kanaya and... Yeah, but what could she do, what with her duties as the Mother Grub's caretaker? Even if the idea wasn't full out ludicrous, she wouldn't have time to take care of a young troll on top of everything else.

What about Terezi? Probably on Earth with her human matesprit. Not that he really trusted her to raise anything without it becoming just as shithive maggots as she was. Anyone else was pretty much ruled out, too, as he realized that most of his friends were way too batshit insane to handle something like this without fucking up royally. Dammit, leave it to him to stumble into a bullshit situation that only he could take care of.

Grudgingly, he dug out the phone from his locked chest. He had spent many days staring at it, fighting the inner battle between keeping to his oath and breaking this unbearable loneliness. He would never in a million sweeps admit to anyone that he missed his friends, but to himself he couldn't help to after so long.

'TEREZI, CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU GET SOMEWHERE PRIVATE,' he messaged the troll he thought that he could trust the most. And one of the few of his friends that he could contact since he didn't have anyone else's number. The device buzzed not a second later, as if she'd been sitting by just waiting for him to contact her.

"Oh my jegus, Karkat!" she said in shock and excitement.

"What?" he growled wearily. She laughed.

"It is you!" she yelled. "I haven't heard from you in forever!"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't kidding when I said I was fucking leaving and not coming back," he growled as quietly as he could so he didn't wake his little rescuee.

"So I guess you're still mad about the hemospectrum."

"I have every fucking right to be," he snapped.

"I know. Why are you whispering?" she demanded.

"I... I-It's none of your fucking business," he muttered.

"Then why are you calling?" she asked. He supposed that she'd probably assume that this was important, considering that he'd cut all contact from anyone for sweeps.

"Look, I need a husktop," he told her. He didn't have the means to contact the humans who would be the best help in this situation. He would have to rely on Trollian. Also, their human internet would probably provide some advice in this situation, too... "Think you're capable of sendificating me one?"

"Oh, probably," she replied. "Why? Are you finally getting back in touch with everybody?!" she asked excitedly.

"No, like I'd ever want to talk with you bunch of nook sucking fuckers ever again," he snapped.

"Oh, cut the shit, Karkat," she scoffed. "We haven't talked in sweeps! Why do you need a husktop, anyways?"

"To contact someone. Just sendificate one or something."

"Will you promise to keep in touch, then?" she said. "I've missed you!"

"No," he said obstinately.

"But I'm on Earth with Dave and his cool bro!" she protested. "So it's not like anyone's going to find out. Please?"

"Fine," he sighed. He didn't have time to bicker with her. "Just send the damn husktop to these coordinates..."

An hour later, after a lot of cursing and messing up, the husk top had arrived and he'd gotten it all set up. He was fortunate that the little girl hadn't woken up. At one point he thought she might actually be dead and had shakily checked her pulse. He sighed with relief when he'd found a heartbeat; she was still alive. Then, he'd downloaded the things he needed and trolled John, another friend he hadn't spoken with in sweeps.

At first, John was the only one who knew. He'd eventually crumbled and told Terezi, as well, which meant that Dave almost certainly knew about it. And would surely jerk around about it if he knew how to actually contact him, since he'd changed his handle to avoid nosey questions. Of course, there was one other person who knew. One that hadn't even crossed his mind until soon after...

John kindly sent some things for him as well as advice, although not after a lot of bitching and teasing. The girl woke up not long after that. She seemed confused, and panicked and cried a little. All he did was sit and stare like a dumbass, half wondering what to do and half wondering why she wasn't just speaking. She was old enough, right? Jegus, he really didn't know anything about this shit.

He really hadn't expected Jade to fade into existence then and there, wearing some weird ass glasses. It took him a second to realize that those were the all seeing glasses that she'd alchemized a while back. He felt stupid for not considering this variable, but all that bullshit had happened so long ago and he'd completely forgotten that the damn things existed. How could he be expected to remember her dumb glasses?

In any case, he was relieved to see that she had some clothing in her arms that looked to be the right size for the little wriggler.

"Karkat!" she said happily, tossing the clothes onto the bed and grabbing him in a hug when he stood up.

He froze up. This wasn't the greeting he was expecting, nor one he really wanted. Or, at least, that's what he was trying to tell himself. It wasn't the greeting he'd gotten the last time they'd not spoken for years, either, which was their meeting in the dream bubble during the three human year trip.

She'd changed, though, ageing into a young woman in her prime and staying that way due to her god tier. She had grown into adulthood well, though. For a human, at least. For a second he couldn't believe that this was John's dorky human sister that he'd been waxing red for all those sweeps ago. She was beautiful.

What he'd thought was buried as a teen-hood crush, though, came roaring back full force, making him a little dizzy. He successfully resisted the urge to grab her and never let go. He cursed his cheeks for turning a lovely rose colour and wrenched his head away to hide it as soon as she released him. The last thing he wanted was for her to see him getting flustered. Or to suspect that all the red feelings he'd had for her during the game were being unearthed like bloody corpses rising as the undead.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" he snapped, hoping she would mistake his red face for anger, even though a part of him was overjoyed to see her.

"Look, fuckass," she growled, albeit playfully. Her dorky grin deftly twisting into a smug smirk. "I happened to be checking in on you through the glasses and saw your little crisis. I figured that you knew fuck all about taking care of kids, so I figured I should pay a long overdue visit." He was struck speechless for a second.

Whoa, okay, when did Jade start talking like a bad ass? She sounded soooo much cooler than when she was a nerdy teen. Ugh, that didn't help his attempts to suppress those stupid flushed feelings. Apparently trying to stomp them down into the stinking hole they'd dragged themselves out of wasn't doing much in the way of actually helping. Why can't he let go of stupid fucking kid thoughts? He was a fucking adult, now!

"You fucking pervert," he retorted with his classic gruffness. "Can't get e-fucking-nough of me, can you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" she purred. "I was just being a good friend, Karkat."

Oh that classic naive bullshit. This flighty broad was way too damn good at playing the innocent little girl. If he could call her 'little' anymore. Dammit, she was nearly his height, when the hell did that happen? Why was he so short, on top of so many other things?

"Look, just tell me why the fuck you're here," he muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"One sec," she murmured, sitting on the bed and gathering the little girl into her arms.

She immediately stopped her snivelling, eyes fixating on Jade.

"Hello there," Jade said. "Do you have a name?" The girl blinked, but she didn't react to her speaking at all.

Curiously, Karkat snapped a finger near her ear. It didn't so much as twitch, and neither did she turn her head. There was no reaction whatsoever. To be honest, he was impressed she'd survived the trials if she was hatched deaf. It was...surprising to say the least. It gave him a tiny bit of pride in his blood colour, for once.

"She's deaf," he commented. Now he didn't need to whisper.

"Yes, it looks like it. Maybe we can find someone to help her out?" Jade mused. She smiled at the youngling. "Karkat, why didn't you tell me troll kids were so cute!" she exclaimed.

"Because they aren't," he snapped.

"Did you name her?" Ignoring him.

"Like hell, I just fucking found her! Why don't you name her?!" He folded his arms across his chest and gave her a grumpy scowl.

"How about Janyah?" she suggested. He shrugged, not caring. "Janyah Vantas!"

"Wait, why the fuck does she have my last name?!" he exclaimed, giving her a panicked look. "Aren't you taking her home with you?!"

"Of course not! I would never take Janyah away from her dad!" Jade said, affronted that he would even suggest that.

"What? What the hell?" Dad? That was a human word, but what did it mean again?

"You heard me," she chimed. "Now how about we get you into some clothes, hm?" she cooed at the little girl, who giggled in reply. Oh, now he remembered. He gritted his teeth, angry that she was just dumping all of this on him now.

"Why?" he demanded as Jade proceeded to dress Janyah in a doofus shirt and shitty overalls.

"Because I think it would be good for you," Jade said calmly. "You've been living out here all alone since you were exiled. Every time I see you, you're bored out of your mind. In fact, this is the first time in ages that I've seen you so much as scowl! I never thought I'd say this, but I think anger is a lot healthier than sadness, especially for you! Plus, Janyah needs a home, too. I think the arrangement is perfect! Don't you?"

"Hell no. Trolls don't take care of their own young, that's the lusus' job," he argued. "And I'm not fucking bored. If I wanted company then I'd open a fucking memo." She face palmed.

"Oh please don't start with that. Your stupid troll hatelove thing with yourself gives me such a headache to look at," she sighed. "Or even think about, for that matter."

"That's sick, implying that I have black feelings for myself. What fucking right do you even have to say something like that?! You barely know what that even means!" he yelled. She pressed a finger to her lips.

"Shh... You're going to make Janyah upset. Can't you lower your voice at least a little?" she groaned.

"Oh my fucking gog, she's fucking deaf it doesn't even fucking matter!" he yelled.

"And I'll be deaf, too, soon," she sighed, giving him a teasing smile. "Jeez, Karkat, you're not even that opposed to the idea, I can totally tell! And your lusus argument is pretty weak too because she obviously should have one by now. Even I know that much about you trolls! Would it make you feel better if I visited every now and then to help?" she offered.

He opened his mouth to outright refuse that, but closed it immediately. Sometimes, he really needed to think before he spewed forth whatever vile thoughts he was thinking out his mouth. He, once again and very grudgingly, admitted that he was kind of lonely out here. And a small, tiny part of him was warmed by her offer to visit.

An even smaller and tinier part that was actually way too big and liked to goad the rest of him into beating the shit out of it for being so fucking retarded thought that maybe this way he could pursue a redrom with her. Him, the one most opposed to human/troll sloppy make outs! Oh god, his cheeks better not be going red again. His mental self quickly waved away those thoughts. He could beat himself up later for that.

Wait, didn't Egbert say something stupid about 'chicks digging men with kids'? He didn't actually really know what that meant, but he could assume that it meant that if he took care of Janyah, then maybe Jade would like him more? He was a bit more keen on the prospect, now. Not to mention that it would be an...interesting challenge.

"Karkat?"

"What?!" That snapped him out of his retarded daydreams pretty quick.

"If you really don't want to take her, I would be willing," she said calmly.

"No! No, I'll do it," he grumbled. She smiled, and he hated himself a little more when it made him a bit happier.

"Okay," she said as she stood up, Janyah in her arms. She passed the girl over to him. Karkat stared at her, not really sure what to do. She gave him a toothy grin in return, reaching up to try and grab his colourful horns, to which he wrenched his head away. "I'm going to get some more things," Jade told him. "I'll be back later."

"Jade, wait," he said before she could. "Sorry I was such a fucking douchebag," he apologized, "Especially since we haven't talked in forever."

"I've come to expect it from you, Karkat," she laughed. "But thanks for the apology."

So, just as a test to see how people will receive this, I'm asking that you review with your opinion. If I get at least three positive reviews, I'll post the next chapter.